Fox & Bird

Fox & Bird by Edwina Wyatt and Alice Lindstrom published by Little Hare Books, 2019. ISBN 9781760501464 Hardback 32pp RRP: $24.95

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

Fox & Bird is a picture book that explores the dynamics of friendship. We all want to fit in and belong with our friends but at what personal cost? Within a friendship we each have roles. Sometimes one friend can try and please the other by doing whatever is asked of them just like Fox & Bird. Would you rather be lonely or be a friend-pleaser so that you do have a friend? This is a subtle way of exploring bullying. Both Fox and Bird do things that they are not proud of. Fox & Bird has a beautiful simplicity with many layers of meaning.

Both Fox and Bird experience loneliness and power-play within their friendship. When their friendship positions switch, both experience what the other one did. Fox gains self-assurance and finally says ‘no!’ when Bird goes too far with her requests. Bird then feels the same loneliness that Fox did. Although it seems they are good friends, in the end I was left wondering if they really were.

The illustrations in this book beautifully reflect the mood and tone of the story. The use of different shades of greens, pinks and orange depict the playground of their friendship. The facial expressions of both Fox and Bird show who is dominant and who is submissive at that point in the story. I particularly liked the use of Fox’s reflection in the water as it highlights Fox’s growth as a character and the strength found in saying no. The delicate flower work on each page is soft and exquisite and shows the lighter side of friendship in comparison to the greens that reflect the darker side. A closer observation reveals artwork that supports the narrative beautifully.

This book allows children to explore how they want a friendship to be and shows that they have the power within to create a friendship they are happy with. This book will appeal to all ages and each reader will have their own response to the story. This is a book that I would recommend highly for its powerful messages.

Together Always

Together Always written by Edwina Wyatt, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo (Little Hare Books/Hardie Grant Egmont)

HB RRP $24.99

ISBN 9781742979632

Reviewed by Liz Ledden

Best friends Pig and Goat are always together, no matter what happens to hang from the trees in their orchard. They constantly reassure each other, and promise to always stick together. Their different personality traits create a harmonious balance – Goat cheers Pig up with stories, while Pig sings Goat to sleep. Their pact to remain together, always, seems to be working out, until one night Goat is inspired to venture beyond their home.

Pig would rather not leave home, but sticks to their agreement and reluctantly follows. It is clear Pig and Goat now want different things, and they sadly part ways. In their attempt to live apart, each is reminded of the other through memories sparked in nature, depicted beautifully in Masciullo’s gentle pencil and watercolour art.

This is an endearing book about friendship, change and compromise, and about allowing those we love to follow their dreams. The story also demonstrates that when you’re unable to physically be with your loved ones, they can still be in your heart.

Wyatt uses repetition and rhythm to great effect in this heartwarming tale. Together Always would make a wonderful read for someone about to enter a period of change

Together Always

Together Always by Edwina Wyatt, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo (Little Hare Books)

HB RRP $24.95

ISBN 9781742979632

Reviewed by J Wishart

This gentle picture book written by Edwina Wyatt, and illustrated by Lucia Masciullo, tells the story of Pig and Goat who live together in an orchard. The two animals enjoy long, lazy days in each other’s company. They provide each other with support, and vow that they’ll stay together always. The day eventually comes, however, when Goat feels the need to leave and the two animals have to face the prospect of living apart.

Using simple but lively illustrations with soothing, muted colours, Masciullo evokes a stylised natural world, moving the reader from day to night and through fields and woodlands with the characters. Pig and Goat are shown happily together, then in their respective environments. It is there that they learn to cope on their own – tapping into skills each taught the other, as well as their fond memories for comfort.

The hardcover book is attractively designed with a mix of double-spread and vignette images, and colour-washed endpapers. With its simple language and a reassuring repetition throughout, Together Always would make a pleasant bedtime story for younger children. Although it touches on more challenging ideas of individuality and diversity in needs and interests, it is thoroughly infused with the comforting notion that wherever they are, good friends can always be together in each other’s thoughts. 

In the Evening

In the Evening by Edwina Wyatt, Illustrations by Gaye Chapman (Little Hare Books (an imprint of Hardie Grant Egmont)

RRP $24.95 Hardback

ISBN 978-1-742975-28-3

Review by Dianne Cook

Edwina Wyatt’s In the Evening concerns itself with that ‘time of day’ when not only the light changes, but how our perceptions of the world around us can be affected too. It is the time described in a common French idiom as “the hour between the wolf and the dog” – when the light can cause you to confuse the friendly dog and the unfriendly wolf.  A stanza from Emily Dickinson, used as an epigraph, describes this effect.

There’s a certain Slant of light,

          Winter Afternoons –

That oppresses, like the Heft

          Of Cathedral Tunes –     

Both the story and the illustrations are, in the strict sense of the word, fabulous.  At the launch of her book Edwina Wyatt described the relationship between writer and illustrator as the “co-imagining” of a story. This is an example of “co-imagining” at its best.

The book introduces us to Charlie and Oscar who are neighbours but not yet neighbourly. They spend their evenings differently, apart, but observing each other. The images of these endearing squirrely characters have a mythical quality; their story has universal resonance while at the same time showing homely particulars of how these two begin a friendship.  This layering of meaning is expressed verbally in the story’s ‘fable’ quality and visually in the wash of watercolour over clear outlines. Gaye Chapman’s artwork was inspired by the atmospheric paintings of JMW Turner, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Gaye Chapman used loose washes of transparent watercolours and tea over graphite and coloured pencils and spatterings of masking-fluid stars, rain and snow.

The story has significance for Charlie and Oscar and for everyone, for this place and everywhere. In appreciating the story of the two creatures, children see possibilities for dealing with their own times of fearfulness and doubt.

Recurring uncertainty is expressed in the repetition of the line, “Oscar didn’t know what to do” -  a feeling every child and every adult will know.  But the cycle is broken with a gesture of outreach.  Oscar begins to “hope” for more signs of friendship from Charlie, and makes a move. A “knock, knock” on Charlie’s door, and a “hello” lead to an evening of delightful conviviality.

“That evening, bellies ached from laughter.

That evening, spoons went back for thirds.”

That “slant of light” that “oppresses” has been displaced by illuminated windows and a cosy fireside as “the night had just begun.”  So too has a friendship and an understanding. “Knock, knock” and “Hello!” won’t be strange sounds to Charlie any more.

There is a lesson here in this whimsical fable, but it’s conveyed with the lightest touch.